Class Notes

Showing obituaries submitted in the last year by graduates in the 1990s

1991

GRD Ed./Couns Psych./Pastoral Min. '91

Victor C. LaVoie

Rev. Victor C. LaVoie M.A. ’91, 69, of Woburn, Mass., went to his heavenly reward June 26, 2014. The son of Rene and Ruth (McCusker) LaVoie, he was born August 25, 1944 in Hartford, Conn.. His early years were spent in Manchester, Conn., before moving to Watertown. He graduated from Saint Mary's School in Waltham. He attended Saint John's Seminary, and was ordained May 15, 1971. He attended Boston College and received his Master's in Spirituality from Santa Clara University in California. Brother of Anne Uva of Syracuse, N.Y., John LaVoie and his wife Mary of Duxbury, Joseph LaVoie and his wife Debbie of East Falmouth, and the late Thomas LaVoie. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. Fr. LaVoie has served in parishes in Chelsea, Hingham, West Roxbury, Hudson, Chelmsford, Wilmington, Lahey Clinic in Burlington and Saint Eulalia's in Winchester.

submitted Aug. 14, 2014 11:16P

1992

'92

Florence Remata

Florence Remata M.A. '92, a Franciscan sister and Kauai native, served decades as educator Sister Florence Remata, minister of the Hawaii-Southwest region of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. She died on Aug. 3 at the Queen's Medical Center after a brief illness and 57 years of service to the Roman Catholic Church. She was 75. According to the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Remata was born in Waimea, Kauai, the sixth of 12 children of Crisanto and Vicente Omakanim Remata. She graduated from Saint Francis Convent School on Oahu and joined the Sisters of St. Francis in 1956. After taking her final vows in 1961, she chose St. Therese of Lisieux, "the Little Flower," as her patron saint in honor of her home parish of St. Theresa in Kekaha, Kauai, where "the sisters taught me how to use the fork to eat, how to dance, and all the social graces so that I wouldn't be a wallflower," she told the Catholic Herald in a 2011 interview. Remata graduated from Chaminade College in Honolulu and Santa Clara University. She taught at St. Peter School in Riverside, N.J.; St. Joseph School in Hilo, where she also was vice principal; and Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City. She was director of religious education at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pearl City and at St. Patrick in Chittenango, N.Y. Remata returned to Kauai to care for her mother in 1995. For the next 17 years she served at Immaculate Conception Church in Lihue as director of religious education and as pastoral associate. She was also the island's liaison for the Catholic Diocese's Department of Religious Education. The Catholic Herald said she was the first and last Franciscan sister to be assigned to Kauai. Remata told the Hawaii Catholic Herald at the time, "The people of Kauai are church-oriented and value priests and (the) religious." Some nicknamed her "The Mayor of Kauai" for her friendliness and outreach. Remata is survived by eight brothers: David, Edward, Alfredo and Richard Remata, all of Kauai; Stanley Remata of Pearl City; and Wilfred, Lawrence and Patrick Remata of California; and three sisters: Mildred Olores, Elizabeth Aquino and Vivian Nonaka, all of Kauai. She had 30 nephews and nieces, 60 grandnephews and grandnieces, and 11 great-grandnephews and great-grandnieces. Her survivors also include her fellow Franciscan sisters and their associates.

submitted Sep. 15, 2014 12:08P

1995

'95

Donald C. Chavous Jr.

Donald Calhoun Chavous Jr. J.D. '95, 61, of Rancho Mirage, passed away July 29, 2014, in his sleep. Born Aug. 11, 1952, to Donald and Patricia Chavous, Don spent his early years in Bushnell, Florida. In 1967, Don received a congressional appointment to work as a page for the House of Representatives. He lived and worked in Washington, D.C., from 1967-1969, attending the Capitol Page School. Classes were held in the attic of the Library of Congress, during some of the most turbulent times in Washington, D.C., history. He received his high school diploma in 1969, at the age of 16. Don became a student at the University of Florida, majoring in chemical engineering. Just prior to completing his bachelor's degree, he was awarded the unheard of opportunity of early transfer to medical school at the University of Miami, achieving his Medical Doctorate (M.D.) in 1976. From 1977-1980, Don served as a doctor in the Navy, with the rank of lieutenant commander - traveling from Pearl Harbor to the Bering Sea, and eventually to Moffett Field, California. After working in California at Cupertino Medical Clinic (1980-1982), he co-founded and directed Los Altos Medical Clinic in 1983. It was around this time he fell in love with a nurse, Linda Larson, and her 6-year-old son, David. They married Sept. 9, 1985, and had a daughter, Emily, in 1988. Always one for a challenge, Don returned to school at Santa Clara University of Law, earning a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) in 1995. While still hard at work full time as a physician, he began work as an attorney with his own private practice, specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury. In 1998, the family relocated to sunny Southern California, where Don continued double duty as an attorney-at-law as well as full time urgent care physician, saving lives with Desert Medical Group (now Desert Oasis Healthcare). Over the years, Don was an avid skier, tennis player, basketball player, golfer, hiker, and loved watching ESPN. He had a passion for the open road, and took many long rides across the Western U.S. on his '97 Valkyrie motorcycle, becoming very involved with the Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club. He had memberships with the local gun clubs, and enjoyed going out for target practice. He is remembered for his sharp wit and keen sense of humor, his stimulating political banter, loyalty to friends and coworkers, and his fundamental human decency. Don had the nickname "AAA": he made himself available to help anyone - Anytime, Anywhere, for Anything. Don is survived by his wife, Linda Chavous; two children: David Berry of Portland, Oregon, and Emily Chavous of La Quinta, California; four granddaughters, Pearl, Sayde, Ginger and Rosie; his mother, Patricia Chavous, of Tampa, Florida; and siblings Shirley Purvis, of Leesburg, Florida; Alan Chavous of Tampa; Terri Bonner of Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Brian Chavous of Oxford, Florida; his in-laws Larry and Marjean Larson of Rancho Mirage, California; countless friends and colleagues; and by the family cat, Bebe

Barbara Jean (Warren) Friedrich, 86, passed away peacefully in Union City on June 21 with family in attendance. Bobbie to her friends, Barbara was born in Evanston, Ill., then lived in Baltimore, Md., moving at age 5 to Berkeley, Calif., where she was raised. She graduated from Holy Names High School and UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Business Administration. In 1948 she married Paul Friedrich, to whom she was married for nearly 50 years before his passing. They raised 9 children. They subsequently lived in Alameda, Hayward, Castro Valley, and Broken Arrow (Okla.), before finally settling down in Union City.

Barbara obtained a Master of Library Science from San Jose State University and later a Master of Pastoral Liturgy from Santa Clara University. After working for a private law firm in San Francisco, she worked until retirement at Santa Clara University Law School as a librarian. Barbara gave unceasingly to her community as an involved PTA member and president, as co-president of the Union City Historical Society, as an active member in the League of Women's Voters, as a 4-H volunteer, as a Red Cross volunteer, as a Girl Scouts of America volunteer, and especially as a lay leader for Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Union City.